Flowered Up were an English

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and su ...

- alternative dance band, formed in Camden Town, London in 1989, active during the

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movement. Their 13-minute single " Weekender" reached the UK top 20. The band split up in 1994 amid drug problems. Following a failed reformation attempt in 2007 and a solo record deal that fell through, frontman Liam Maher died from a heroin overdose in 2009, followed by his brother Joe also of a heroin overdose in 2012.

Career

The band was formed in mid-1989 by singer Liam Maher along with lifelong friend, Darren 'Des' Penney. Des would co-write lyrics and manage the band.Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 742 The original line up included the late John O'brien on drums, Joe Maher, Liam's younger brother, on guitar and bass player Andrew Jackson. Simon Gannon would guest on keyboard and this line up would play the first two gigs. After a few changes in personnel, the settled line-up included keyboardist Tim Dorney and drummer John Tuvey, with dancer Barry Mooncult adding to their live shows. After releasing two singles ("It's On" and "Phobia") on Heavenly Records, both of which were minor hits, Flowered Up signed to London Records and recorded their only album, ''A Life With Brian'', in 1991. "Take It" had lyrics from

Joe Strummer John Graham Mellor (21 August 1952 – 22 December 2002), known professionally as Joe Strummer, was a British singer, musician and songwriter. He was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and co-lead vocalist of punk rock band the Clash, ...

. The group appeared on the covers of both '' Melody Maker'' and ''

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'' before releasing the album. ''A Life With Brian'' contained many of their popular live songs, as well as new versions of the previously released singles. Not long afterwards, Flowered Up released the 13-minute-long single " Weekender" on Heavenly, with a

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directed by

W.I.Z. Andrew John "W.I.Z." Whiston (born 4 January 1964) is an English director of films and music videos. Career W.I.Z. has directed a number of high-concept videos for major music artists from the United Kingdom and the United States, including Ma ...

starring Lee Whitlock and Anna Haigh. Despite the group's - and Heavenly's - refusal to compromise on a standard-length edit for radio play (although two "radio edits" were circulated, neither really addressed the needs of radio programmers, as one was merely the full-length version but with the two instances of the phrase "fuck off" muted, while the other reduced the length of the intro, but still ran for over 12 minutes), the track went on to become their biggest hit, reaching number 20 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. After much-publicised drug problems with some members of the band, and unproductive (and some unreleased) studio work, the band split up. Keyboardist Tim Dorney went on to form

Republica Republica are an English alternative rock band formed in 1994. The height of their popularity spanned from 1996 to 1999. The current line-up consists of Saffron (vocals), Tim Dorney (keyboards), Johnny Male (guitar), Conor Lawrence (drums). T ...

. ''A Life With Brian'' was re-released by London Records as ''The Best of Flowered Up'', and included the original version of "Weekender". Flowered Up tried to re-form in 2007, but Dorney refused, and the planned reunion tour was cancelled. On 20 October 2009, Liam Maher died of a heroin overdose, aged 41, followed in November 2012 by Joe Maher.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

Heavenly Records artist profile
{{Authority control English rock music groups English electronic music groups Heavenly Recordings artists Madchester groups Musical groups from London Musical groups established in 1990 Musical groups disestablished in 1994